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This book examines the distinctive formation of Christianity in Nagaland, Northeast India, since 1947. It argues that an understanding of the history of Christianity in the region can be found in its cultural milieu and the changing political, social and religious environment. In Nagaland, almost 90 per cent of the population are Christians. This book shows that segmentation as a cultural characteristic of Naga society inspired both unity and divisiveness in the Naga churches, which subsequently shaped the beliefs and practices of the churches in the region. Using the methodology of cultural history, the author examines ecclesiastical events and suggests that the history of Christianity shou...
The Routledge Companion to Northeast India is a trans-disciplinary and comprehensive compendium of a vital yet under-researched region in South Asia. It provides a unique guide to prevailing themes, theories, arguments, and history of Northeast India by discussing its life-forms – human and not – languages, landscapes, and lifeways in all its diversity and difference. The companion contains authoritative entries from leading specialists from and on the region and offers clear, concise, and illuminating explanations of key themes and ideas. A hands-on, practical, and comprehensive guide to Northeast India, this companion fills a significant gap in the literature and will be an invaluable teaching, learning, and research resource for scholars and students of Northeast India Studies, South Asian and Southeast Asian societies, culture, politics, humanities, and the social sciences in general.
This book analyses faith-based development action in the Philippines by studying Catholic social movements and development studies in Southeast Asia. By drawing upon primary, qualitative data, this book examines cultural production and community resilience amid poverty and structural restraints. It also interrogates the discourse of Basic Ecclesial Communities, the smallest organizational unit of the Philippine Catholic Church, to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the social movement. The author shows that the dream of local economic development and empowerment requires help from the Catholic hierarchy, particularly the organizational and leadership resources at the diocese level. This book is a unique contribution in opening up interdisciplinary approaches to religion, faith, and social development. It will be of interest to researchers on Asian Studies, especially Southeast Asian Studies, Development Studies, the Anthropology of Development, Social Movements, and the Anthropology of Christianity, Missiology, and Religious Studies.
Decolonising the Study of Religion analyses historical and contemporary discussions in the study of religion and Buddhism and critically investigates representations, possibilities, and challenges of a decolonial approach, addressing the important question: who owns Buddhism? The monograph offers a case-based perspective with which to examine the general study of religion, where new challenges require reflection and prospects for new directions. It focuses on Buddhism, one religion which has been studied in the West for centuries. Building on postcolonial theories and supplemented with a critical analysis of identity and postsecular engagement, the book offers new possibilities and challenge...
This book explores some of the political and methodological directions that collectively lead to the repositioning of Islam in social science research as both an epistemic/ontological category and as a method. Chapters by experts in the field explore research in the Islamic context vis-à-vis these two distinct yet somehow interrelated frames. The question being raised here is how Islam as socio-religious notion is related to Islam as a theoretical/methodological framework. Taking cues from the experience of contributors, this book also examines the question if current methodologies or frames of references are pluralized enough to accommodate the question of Muslims or could the scholars the...
This book investigates the various meanings of forgetting and their ethical dimension in the Daoist classic Zhuangzi. It responds to recent scholarship in the study of the ethics of forgetting, which has only emerged within the past two decades in the wake of the widespread memory-studies of the late 20th century. This book accomplishes two goals: First, it assimilates insights from contemporary scholarship, and specifically applies Ricoeur’s three areas of ethical examinations of forgetting, to the study of the Zhuangzi. It addresses a wide range of ethical themes related to acts of forgetting, such as the meaning of well-being and healing, the issue of personal identity and relational au...
Das vorliegende Buch widmet sich dem Phänomen der Kathedrale, denn Kathedralen stellen Referenzbauten in der Entwicklung der Weltchristenheit dar. Im Fokus steht der Kathedralenbau in seinen jeweiligen historischen Kontexten als ein ästhetisches Mittel des Christentums zur umfassenden Welterschließung. Ebenfalls zur Sprache kommen die Spannungen und Konflikte, von denen diese Welterschließung begleitet ist: zwischen West und Ost, zwischen den unterschiedlichen Konfessionen, zwischen christlicher Mission und klerikalen bzw. kolonialistischen Anmaßungen, zunehmend auch die Spannungen zwischen Religion und nachaufklärerischer Säkularität. Abschließend wird die Entwicklung des Dombaus als ein Paradigma der Konfessionsgeschichte für die Folgezeit sichtbar gemacht, und zwar im größeren Kontext des sich etablierenden christlichen Fundamentalismus bzw. eines Christentums diesseits der traditionellen Konfessionen einerseits und der sich abzeichnenden Krisen des Religiösen in den europäischen Volkskirchen andererseits.
Exploring the Old Testament in Asia is the first evangelical Old Testament textbook written both from and for an Asian cultural context. Rooted in the theological conviction that God still speaks through the Old Testament in all its fullness, the twelve essays in this book address key theological issues pertinent to the diverse cultures and contexts of Asia. Touching on topics from polytheism and kinship bonds to Scripture translation and the biblical conception of wisdom, the writers position themselves in conversation with Asia’s rich spiritual, cultural, and literary heritage. The result is a theological contribution that is both contextually relevant and biblically faithful.
This book initiates a paradigm shift away from Zen/Chan as quintessentially Buddhist and examines what makes Chan thought and practice unique and original through an interdisciplinary investigation of the nature and rationale of Chan and its enlightenment. Exploring how enlightenment is achieved through Chan practice and how this differs from other forms of Buddhism, the book offers an entirely new view of Chan that embraces historical scholarship, philosophical inquiry, textual analysis, psychological studies, Chan practice, and neuroscientific research and locates the core of Chan in its founder Huineng’s theory of no thinking which creatively integrates the Taoist ideas of zuowang (forg...
Inter-religious Practices and Saint Veneration in the Muslim World studies the immortal saint Khidr/Khizr, a mysterious prophet and popular multi-religious figure and Sufi master venerated across the Muslim world. Focusing on the religious figure of Khidr/Khizr and the practice of religion from Middle East to South Asia, the chapters offer a multi-disciplinary analysis. The book addresses the plurality in the interpretation of Khizr and underlines the unique character of the figure, whose main characteristics are kept by Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Sikhs. Chapters examine vernacular Islamic piety and intercommunal religious practices and highlight the multiples ways through which Khidr/K...